GAUVIN: Verizon workers head back to work, but… will compromise work in private sector?

Written by Paul Gauvin

August 26, 2011

PAUL GAUVIN PHOTO

BACK TO WORK deal brings smiles to Verizon picketer Tom Carver of Hyannis and son Ethan, who added a family value to the line in front of the Verizon building on Ocean Street in Hyannis.

Ultra-conservative former town councilor John Boyle Jr. of Hyannis says it is the “first time in my life I stand with a union.”

According to Tom Carver, also of Hyannis, Boyle, to his knowledge, is the closest thing to a local politician who publicly offered union support as negotiations continue between corporate Verizon and a 45,000-strong eastern U.S. labor force.

Carver was one of the Verizon workers pacing the Ocean Street picket line in Hyannis last Saturday just hours before the walkout was called off by the unions in response to Verizon’s softened stance on some 100 demands and workers’ need for a paycheck.

But, as the saying goes, it ain’t over ‘til it’s over. Negotiations continue.

Growing complaints from customers and a worried labor force more than likely pushed both sides back to the table.

“The walkout wasn’t about me or any individual worker,” Carver said while sitting on the steps of the Verizon building. “It was about supporting our families and fulfilling the dreams of our children and middle class labor.”

As we talked, about one in six or seven cars passing by tooted their horn and gave the picketers a thumbs-up sign. Boyle, who has owned a few businesses of his own and normally eschews unionism, crossed the philosophical line because he believes Verizon, as are many other corporations including some locally, is sending too many jobs overseas in search of cheap labor.

There was more vitriol in Boyle’s remarks than in Carver’s, mostly because of Verizon’s overseas outsourcing at a time when the nation is nearing 10 percent unemployment. Boyle and middle-class wage earners also can’t help but notice that lopsided compensation is making the rich richer at the expense of a shrinking middle class.

Verizon has attempted to win public support by noting “some” of its striking employees earn “as much as” $91,000 a year – awesome when compared to the $24,000 some clerks, retail and service industry workers earn in this area. But that figure is barely an atom in the universe of CEO compensation.

It gets more sinful. In a copy of a Philadelphia Inquirer story sent by Boyle, Seidenberg reportedly made $138 million in the last six years and 4.5 million exercisable stock options worth $170 million in addition to the $76.5 million in Verizon stock he already owns.

And the company boasts that “some” union members earned “as much as $91,000” with overtime? It’s a classic example of the widening gap between private executive compensation and employee wages. Quite a few Barnstable patrolmen earn more than $91,000, too, with details and overtime.

Curiously, Carver wasn’t as harsh as Boyle in criticizing the gargantuan compensation gap. With three sons counting on his support – one of them a top student at Mass Maritime Academy – he was more interested in getting back to work and remains willing to compromise on some of the issues. Although striking employees pay nothing now for health insurance, he said he’s willing to chip in. “The problem is how much?

“This is not a bad company,” Carver said. He should know. He’s been with it for 15 years as a service-splice technician. “We work in rain, snow and extreme heat. We need health insurance and time to spend with our families.”

He is concerned in a general sense with the company’s job outsourcing to other countries, but understandably more intent on not losing too many of the worker gains achieved over the years, such as Sunday premium pay, overtime caps and other bread and butter issues. Most of all, he is concerned with not losing his job.

“I know I’m not equipped to run a big company like this,” he said, “but I also know that the company can’t survive without labor either. We need each other.” Unlike the national political parties, he sees the need for compromise on both sides.

From this corner, it takes a lot of gall to demand excessive worker sacrifices in the face of outlandish executive compensation in profitable billion-dollar corporations. “It would be different if the company was in financial trouble,” Carver said.